Black Sabbath

February 01, 1999

Black Sabbath

Reunion

Epic

With bands like Kiss and Led Zeppelin reliving their glory days,

it seemed only a matter of time before Black Sabbath would milk it, too. It’s been almost twenty years since the original Black Sabbath lineup (Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward) have put out an album. Reunion contains sixteen classic Sabbath songs performed live in the UK and two new studio songs.

I’ve always had a problem listening to live albums, but Ozzy (and Johnny Cash) has a way of playing with the audience, rather than to the audience. Ozzy pumps up the blokes in classic fashion by telling them “You’re f-king great! I f-king love you!” and “Let’s hear some f-king noise!” I thought it might be entertaining to count the number of times I heard the word “f-k” but I got into the f-king double digits by the second f-king song, so I said f-k it.

I am amazed at the unmistakable power of Ozzy’s vocals; the old man sounds as good as ever. While listening to the crowd sing the lyrics to “Iron Man,” I wondered what British hessians are like. Do they snort lines of crank, stay up late, and work on shitty Jaguars and Triumphs? Are they rebellious, and do they eat their chips without a fork?

I was excited about the new studio tracks, then I heard “Psycho Man,” a song about a psychotic man-f-king ingenious. Reunion ends on a more refined note with the other new track, “Selling my Soul.” The new music sounds much more like recent Ozzy work than Black Sabbath. Rumor is that the band may soon record a full-length studio album. Over the years many have tried to imitate the Sabbath sound with out success, even Black Sabbath is going to have a hard time sounding like Sabbath.

The old saying “the first time is the best time” applies with Reunion, but go buy it-if, and only if, you own Black Sabbath’s Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master Of Reality, Vol. 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabotage, and Ozzy Osbourne’s Blizzard of Oz, Diary Of A Madman, Bark At The Moon, The Ultimate Sin, and No Rest For The Wicked. If you don’t own these, why not?